Solution may not be simple

Coffman appeals for calm, but new lawsuit possible

By Myung Oak Kim, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Photo by Evan Semon

Millions of dollars' worth of voting machines sit in a Denver warehouse. Some of the machines have been decertified by Secretary of State Mike Coffman.

Ken Papaleo / The Rocky

Colorado Secretary of State Mike Coffman, center, talks to Sen. Ken Gordon, D-Denver, left, and Rep. David Balmer, R-Centennial, during a hearing on voting machines Tuesday.

Colorado Secretary of State Mike Coffman tried Tuesday to ease widespread anxiety about upcoming elections by proposing ways that flawed electronic voting systems could be used in 2008 with small fixes and the help of new legislation.

But the election waters turned more turbulent as voter advocacy groups laid the groundwork for another lawsuit. They criticized Coffman for not following the recommendation of his own testing board to decertify all election machines. Coffman decided Monday to approve some and ban others.

Forty of 53 county clerks that responded to a recent survey said they don't have a plan if their machines were decertified and 45 said they want to conduct the 2008 election by mail.

"The whole state is in trouble now," said Larimer County Clerk Scott Doyle.

Some state lawmakers indicated that they might not follow Coffman's plan, and instead would push for scrapping electronic voting systems altogether and switching to paper ballots.

Many questions remained unanswered - including how local officials will conduct elections as soon as next month when thousands of voting machines have been decertified.

"I don't have a direct answer right now," Deputy Secretary of State William Hobbs said in response to that question from Douglas County Clerk Jack Arrowsmith during a public hearing Tuesday morning at the state Capitol.

Coffman announced Monday that electronic voting equipment and software that runs those machines used in most Colorado counties could not be used in future elections because they are inaccurate and not secure.

Those machines, including scanning devices for paper ballots, are made by three companies - Election Systems & Software, Hart InterCivic and Sequoia Voting Systems. Coffman approved all equipment made by Premier Election Solutions, formerly Diebold. Some equipment made by Sequoia and Hart was approved.

The decision was the result of a court-ordered review begun last year of all electronic voting systems used in Colorado.

A judge ordered former Secretary of State Gigi Dennis to recertify voting machines because her office violated state law by failing to determine that the machines were secure.

The lawsuit was brought by 11 Colorado voters from different political parties who contend that electronic voting systems are unreliable, according to Paul Hultin, the lawyer who filed the suit. This group is part of a large movement across the country to stop the use of electronic voting systems.

Hultin assailed Coffman's decision to certify certain electronic voting machines, particularly the ones made by Premier. Extensive reviews done in California and Ohio have determined that the same Premier machines used in Colorado can be hacked without detection, he said.

"The testing that was done demonstrated many, many problems and for reasons that are unknown to me, Secretary of State Coffman in the case of Hart and Diebold has chosen to disregard those documented deficiencies and has ignored the recommendations of his staff, and ignored mandatory provisions of law," Hultin said.

The test report said Premier equipment - used in 12 counties including Larimer, Weld and El Paso - failed 10 percent of the voting tests and 17 percent of security tests.

Coffman acknowledged that his testing board recommended that all electronic voting systems be decertified and also gave conditions under which they could be approved.

Coffman said he used discretion in deciding which problems were serious enough to ban equipment and which could still meet the threshold of being "substantially compliant" with state law.

"I was looking for a show stopper" - or defect so major that the machines could not be trusted, he said.

Coffman said the problems with Premier were not large enough to merit decertification.

Coffman told lawmakers Tuesday that many of the decertified machines could be used next year if programming or other functional systems were upgraded or fixed.

Current law is cumbersome and requires a lengthy review process for any changes in voting equipment, Coffman said.

The law would have to be changed so that the equipment upgrades could be certified quickly and in time for the next elections, said Coffman, who suggested four measures such as allowing Colorado to use results from testing in other states.

Coffman made the request during a three-hour public hearing at the state Capitol. The panel of lawmakers, led by Sen. Ken Gordon, D-Denver, and Rep. David Balmer, R-Centennial, was formed in October to look at ways to help plan elections.

Gordon said he would consider Coffman's proposals, but added he'd like to move away from electronic systems and toward paper ballots. He also said he would consider changing state law to allow an all- mail ballot in statewide elections..

What's next

* Secretary of State Mike Coffman is meeting today and Thursday with county clerks and vendors to discuss the findings of his review of electronic voting systems and the ways some decertified equipment could later be approved for use.

* Coffman will report Friday to the Joint Budget Committee about election costs.

* County election officials and vendors have a month to appeal decertifications.

* A hearing will be held at the state Capitol on Jan. 3, during which members of the public can testify.